Predicted Cousin Relationships

Today I want to talk a little bit about predicting relationships using your DNA results. It is not an exact science. The further back you get the less likely that these predictions are going to be accurate. Now, with that being said it is not to say that you are not related to the individual with whom you match. You definitely are at some point in time. This is where your paper trail is going to come in very handy.

If you have yet to test your DNA then I wholeheartedly recommend that you first develop a good solid paper trail that includes multiple generations as well as collateral lines. If you do not have this to go with your DNA results then you are going to have one heck of a time figuring out some of these relationships. Let me give you just two examples from my husbands relative finder list this week. We were working on trying to determine if the woman he knew to be his Paternal Great Grandmother was indeed his Biological Great Grandmother. DNA results have conclusively confirmed that she is indeed his Biological Great Grandmother. Using my paper trail with what I already knew about her line I was able to place two of his matches within her line.

Both of the above relatives as you can see I have already set them to reflect that they are a Distant Cousin. However lets look at how 23andMe Predicted them to be. As you can see the top match shares 0.18% across 1 segment. The system predicted this relative to have been a 5th Cousin (3rd to Distant) it turns out she is actually a 10th Cousin, 1 time removed! Now, lets look at the second relative. She shares 0.24% across 1 segment. The system predicted her to have been a 4th Cousin (3rd to Distant) she was actually a 9th Cousin, 1 times removed.

So folks it is not an exact science at this point. But, I still feel that the value in getting this test done is great! I would definitely recommend it. If you are new to Genealogy or if you have a Non Paternal Event or some other situation such as an adoption it is going to be harder to locate and place the more distant relatives within your family line. But by all means do not let that stop you. There are others out there like myself who can and will do their best to help you figure things out.

We started this journey with believing that my husbands father had been fathered by someone other than the person who raised him. Within 30 days time I have been able to determine using my husbands DNA relatives list that the man who raised him, was indeed his father. I have now set out to determine whether my husbands Grandfather was the first Bio relative, in order to determine each generation and rule them out, I have to look at the mothers. If I can definitively place that mother in my husbands matches then I rule out that generation. Given the above matches, I am now able to look at my husbands 2nd Great Grandmother to see if I can rule out the male in her ancestry. Once I can go no further, I will have located the generation in which the Non Paternal event occurred. Until next time... Happy Hunting!